Reliability refers to whether the results of the study will be repeatable. Ideally, you shouldn't accept the re¬sults of any study as true without finding at least one attempt to repeat it with the same results. In reality, re¬search is rarely repeated exactly. Later studies change the design or the patient population to broaden the knowledge base about the condition and its treatment. So it's rare to find research reports that ask the same question (or test the same hypothesis). But, as tile number of studies on the same general topic grows, a picture begins to form that clinicians can use to under¬stand their own patient population.